No need to be an expert! Exploring complex and controversial issues in the classroom from a critical perspective Nessa Ní Chasaide Debt and Development.

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Presentation on theme: "No need to be an expert! Exploring complex and controversial issues in the classroom from a critical perspective Nessa Ní Chasaide Debt and Development."— Presentation transcript:

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No need to be an expert! Exploring complex and controversial issues in the classroom from a critical perspective Nessa Ní Chasaide Debt and Development Coalition Ireland

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Objectives To explore methodologies that enable students to become the ‘experts’ in exploring complex or controversial issues To explore ways of developing students’ economic literacy and critical thinking skills through a range of methodologies and resources To consider the characteristics of successful cooperative learning

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Setting the context Shift from teacher-led to student- centred learning Shift from teachers doing all the talking (and most of the work!) to students taking more responsibility for learning Shift from teaching content towards more emphasis on the development of students’ skills

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Business Studies – Economic Awareness (JC Syllabus) ‘Without a basic level of economic awareness citizens cannot fully participate in the democratic process. Every day, individuals make economic decisions, as do business firms and governments. It is becoming increasingly difficult to make political choices without some knowledge of economics. Business Studies aims to make some contribution to economic literacy among students in order to enable them to make an informed contribution to the democracy’

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Economics LC Syllabus “It is intended that the syllabus will be relevant to the lives of students and inspire in them an interest and excitement about economic issues. It should enable them as citizens to understand the economic issues that affect their lives and to offer informed comment on these issues. It should provide them with the knowledge, skills & understanding to … respond to the needs of the economy and contribute to sustained economic development”

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Moral Purpose of Education? Building more just relationships Paulo Freire’s critical pedagogy emphasises the potential for personal and social transformation through the action/reflection dialectic of ‘praxis’. It is only by critically understanding our world that we can change it. People learn best through a process that connects, learning, reflecting and doing.

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Setting the context - global financial crisis and growing poverty Global poverty: 1.3 bn people living on less than $1.25 / day. Poverty increasing in Africa. Majority of poor people are living in ‘Middle Income Countries’ Ireland’s poverty: 23% of people in Ireland are experiencing 2 or more types of poverty (CSO); 15% unemployment, emmigration 40,200/yr; 1.9 m people have less than € 100m left at end of month Debt Crisis: Southern countries owe over $4 trillion in external debt; EU: 87% to GDP (60% is the norm), Ireland 121% GDP, or 147% of GNP. 8

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Thinking Critically? Promoting divergent thinking In what ways can you help students to think more critically? In buzz groups discuss methodologies that you might find successful 9

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Thinking Critically? good use of questioning challenging assumptions and prejudices encouraging more flexible and divergent thinking exposing students to different perspectives engaging in real world problem solving 10

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Cooperative learning – the key to unlocking key skills ‘Students may work in groups but they very seldom work as groups.’ Ken Richardson 11

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Diamond ranking Diamond ranking is a thinking tool that gets students to prioritise and make judgments. Then it helps them to analyse and evaluate the criteria that they have used for making their judgments. It’s important that there is no single right answer but a range of possible responses.

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In groups of 3 work together to rank the cards Appoint a facilitator/checker - ensure everyone’s voice is heard timekeeper – ensure group keeps to time Reader – reads out the statements

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Questioning ‘ What’s in a question, you ask? Everything. It is a way of evoking and stimulating response or stultifying inquiry. It is, in essence, the very core of teaching’ John Dewey, 1933 15

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Common Pitfalls Asking questions without being clear why you are asking the question Asking too many questions Asking mostly closed or LOT questions that need only a short answer Asking difficult questions without building up to them Asking a question and then answering it yourself Not giving enough time for students to think 16

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HOT (Higher Order Thinking) Questioning To promote critical and creative thinking we need to ask more HOT questions. These are:  Questions involving application of the students knowledge  Questions concerning analysis of a topic  Questions that involve building on information that they got in the past  Questions that require evaluating their understanding  Questions that require imagination or creation of something new 17

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Things to consider Plan your questions Ask different kinds of questions Allow wait time Encourage students to discuss answers in pairs and squares Good resource: http://www.instructionalleadership.ie/ The_skill_of_framing_questions.aspx 18

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Promoting flexible and divergent thinking Placemat Methodology Placemat is a form of collaborative learning that combines writing and dialogue to ensure accountability and involvement of all students. It involves students working alone and together around a single piece of paper to simultaneously come up with lots of alternative ideas. (Adapted from Barrie Bennett, Beyond Monet)

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In groups of 4 work on creating a Placemat Question to consider What is the cause of the global debt crisis and where does responsibility lie?

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Research Suggests that students learn best when they ‘construct’ their own meaning are actively engaged in learning engage in reasoning not just reproduction check their own and each others learning/understanding learn from each other, e.g. use peer explaining, peer teaching, think-pair-share, group work.

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Why is active engagement in learning so important? We remember 10% of what we read 20% of what we hear 30% of what we see 50% of what is discussed with others 80% of what we experience personally 95% of what we teach to someone else According to William Glasser

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‘Children may work in groups in classrooms but they very seldom work as groups.’ Ken Richardson Elements of Cooperative Learning Positive interdependence Individual accountability Face to face interaction Interpersonal and group work skills Reflection and group processing According to David and Roger Johnson www.co-operation.orgwww.co-operation.org

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Tips for successful group work Agree ground rules Set clear tasks – provide ‘structure and guidance’ Avoid friendship groups and keep groups small Ensure everyone has a role (no passengers) Create positive interdependence – mutual goals, shared resources, complementary roles, shared product/grade Allow time for group processing of both the task and process Create a classroom culture in which students feel that everyone has something to contribute. See handouts or more help in organising group work and www.co-operation.orgwww.co-operation.org and www.action.ncca.ie (key skills toolkit)www.action.ncca.ie

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Some strategies To begin with – keep it simple Use strategies such as Read and explain pairs Think-pair-share Think- pair-square Study buddies Cooperative essay writing

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Jigsaw learning Jigsaw groups is another good cooperative learning methodology. A different topic related to the same theme is given to 4 or 5 groups. Each group must study their topic and prepare to ‘teach’ it to the other groups. When they are ready, the groups are re-organised so that there is ‘an expert’ from each of the different topics in each new group. Within their new groups they each take turns teaching their topic.

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Jigsaw Technique Step 1: Students are arranged into groups. Students must be competent in the subject matter before they move on to step 2. Step 2: Rearrange groups. Students ‘teach’ their area of expertise to the rest of the group.

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Another useful tool - Graphic Organisers Diagrams, graphs, flow charts, venn diagrams, timelines, spirals, circles, fishbones, compare and contrast tables etc. Can be used as a note-making tool to help summarise or make sense of complex information to show different views/perspectives 29

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Tips on dealing with controversial issues  Make the classroom a safe place to ask questions and discuss ideas (e.g. agree ground rules)  Appeal to students’ better nature  Sometimes useful to find out what they already think or feel about an issue before opening up a discussion  Expose students to multiple perspectives  Promote critical thinking – questioning and probing  Teach the skills needed for dialogue and active listening  Model respect and fairness

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Useful links www.debtireland.org (How the world works – a teaching resource can be downloaded here) www.ncca.ie www.juniorcycle.ie